“Oneota” is a term used to describe different late precontact archaeological cultures in the upper Midwest that shared similar pottery. There has been steady interest in Oneota archaeology over the past few decades, and our understanding of regional variation in Oneota adaptations is growing. Richard Edwards makes a substantial contribution to this discussion. His book presents an in-depth look into the Oneota world based on research from archaeological sites in the Koshkonong locality of southeastern Wisconsin as well as a contextualization of these sites in relation to other Upper Mississippian, Middle Mississippian, and Late Woodland sites in the region. The Koshkonong sites discussed in this volume largely date to the period between AD 1050 and 1450.

Edwards provides useful summaries and syntheses of several sources of information, including late precontact subsistence data from archaeological sites in Wisconsin and Illinois (Chapter 7), the quantification and synthesis of subsistence data from the Koshkonong locality (Chapter 6), and the use of dietary isotopes derived from dog remains—the canine surrogacy approach—as a proxy for determining the extent of maize consumption (Chapters 5 through 7). These data come together in critical discussions of agriculture and risk management in Oneota systems and, specifically, at the Koshkonong locality (Chapters 8 and 9).

The overall arch of the book demonstrates that maize was more intensively used by Oneota people at the Koshkonong locality than assumed. Likewise, the reliance on maize by the residents of Koshkonong was comparable to that of Middle Mississippian people and much higher than that of neighboring Late Woodland peoples. A decrease in diet breadth was also observed over time, with the occupants of the Koshkonong sites relying more heavily on agriculture after AD 1200 than they did previously. Similarly, shifts in nut use and wild rice use were also observed at Koshkonong. According to Edwards, acorns were more common prior to AD 1200, and wild rice use increased after this date. Acorns and wild rice are both interpreted as risk-buffering resources relative to maize production. Wild rice may have grown in importance because it was a more predictable and consistently productive resource than acorns.

In Chapter 9, “Risk Management in Oneota Societies,” Edwards makes a case for limited or constrained mobility among Koshkonong people with less use of seasonal or logistical camps than other Oneota groups. In his words, “The Koshkonong settlement system is the flattest (i.e., it has the fewest numbers of site types) and most physically constrained of any Oneota locality examined” (pp. 182–183). He attributes this pattern, in part, to the more densely occupied landscape around Koshkonong that included three different cultural groups (Late Woodland, Middle Mississippian, and Upper Mississippian/Oneota). The presence of multiple groups competing for resources on the same landscape created a potential source of conflict between the Koshkonong people and their neighbors. Few human remains are known from these sites, but at least two individuals exhibit evidence of violent death. Although the evidence for widespread violence at Koshkonong is equivocal, Edwards refers to evidence for conflict at contemporaneous Oneota sites to the south as well as from the Middle Mississippian center of Aztalan to the north in support of the potential for widespread violence in the region. The potential for conflict and the risk of violence may have been factors leading to the constrained use of space as well as the decreased diet breadth and greater reliance on agriculture.

These trends also appear in other aspects of Koshkonong site assemblages. The artifacts from these sites are largely made from locally available materials, suggesting constrained mobility relating to raw material procurement as well as limited exchange with their neighbors. This observation is further illustrated by the identification of only 30 Late Woodland sherds among the over 43,000 recovered from the Koshkonong sites (0.07%). Not only were diet and mobility constrained for the Koshkonong people, but exchange and interaction with their neighbors were limited as well.

Indigenous Life around the Great Lakes derives from Edwards's dissertation and represents one of several other theses, dissertations, and publications resulting from research at Koshkonong by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The florescence of Oneota research at Koshkonong is reshaping the way we think about Oneota in southern Wisconsin. Edwards's work, specifically relating to Koshkonong reliance on agriculture along with constrained mobility, is groundbreaking, and it represents an important shift from generalized Oneota paradigms with assumptions of broad diet breadth and increased logistical mobility. Whereas some Oneota peoples relied on broader subsistence patterns and greater mobility, those at Koshkonong did not. I recommend this volume to anyone engaged in Oneota studies as well as anyone researching late precontact archaeology in the upper Midwest.